Skagit Audubon Society

Welcome to Skagit Audubon Programs

General membership meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 pm, September through June.
In person meetings are typically presented at the Padilla Bay Interpretive Center, 10441 Bayview-Edison Rd., Mt. Vernon. Other meetings may be available by Zoom only. Please check the specific program listing below for the time and location of the current meeting.

SCAM ALERT! Our monthly programs on Zoom are always FREE! Any prompt during registration on Zoom to collect any financial or payment information is a scam (and out of our control).

MONTHLY PROGRAM

This meeting features a potluck (please feel free to bring a dish to share) and a pre-meeting bird walk. Details on the bird walk here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040545ABAE28A6F58-63657268-bird

Please join us for a spectacular presentation on avian flight by Peter Cavanagh. Peter will present images and videos of flying birds to illustrate aspects of flight mechanics that are described in his recent book How Birds Fly. He aims to present the complexities of avian flight in a manner that is accessible to all who are interested in birds, regardless of their science backgrounds. He will review the evolution of flight and key aspects of avian anatomy that make flight possible. Listeners will gain insights into how birds take off and land, and how they maneuver and migrate. Efforts to mimic aspects of bird flight will also be presented together with stories of people who have studied bird flight. Peter aims to leave his audience informed and entertained. 

Peter Cavanagh is a Pacific Northwest wildlife photographer and author who has been taking photographs since he was a boy of five growing up in England. He specializes in photographing and writing about birds in flight. His books, 100 FLYING BIRDS: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight and HOW BIRDS FLY: The Science and Art of Avian Flight are published by Firefly Books. His latest book was celebrated by a renowned PNW ornithologist as “…. without question the best book on birds I have seen in a long time, surely one of the best (bird) books ever”.

We hope to see you there!

Questions? Email: programs@skagitaudubon.org

Photo: Yellow-Billed Hornbill (Tsavo West National Park, Kenya) by Peter Cavanagh

 2026 UPCOMING PROGRAM
from Ann Kramer

Sept. 8, 2026 at 7 pm: “The Super Migrants” with Connie Sidles. Two million flaps. That's how many times a shorebird weighing less than a small grape must beat its wings to fly from its nesting grounds in the Arctic to its wintering grounds in South America. And yet billions of birds make this arduous journey twice a year, passing through our state in wave upon wave of flights in spring and fall. It is a wondrous phenomenon of nature, one that we are just beginning to understand. Come along on the birds' journey this fall, as master birder Connie Sidles explains the most recent science of how and why birds migrate. This program will be presented in-person only at the Padilla Bay Interpretive Center, 10441 Bayview-Edison Rd., Mt. Vernon. Please note that our programs are not held during July and August. Have a great summer and please join us on September 8th!

Skagit Audubon Legacy Program Recordings

“Know Your Native Trees”, presented by Kevin Zobrist https://youtu.be/nfPJk71cxsM

“A Birder’s Evolution-Beyond Your Spark Bird”, presented by George Armistead https://youtu.be/gaVeZDTQr-I

TNC’s Port Susan Bay Preserve Restoration Adaptive Management Presented by Amber Parmenter, Puget Sound Stewardship Manager
https://youtu.be/yeG1448QdX4

Baby Birds: An Artist Looks into the Nest by Julie Zickefoose
https://youtu.be/kppE71b3YjE

Woodpeckers of Western Washington by Jeff Kozma, Wildlife Biologist with Yakima National Fisheries
https://youtu.be/SR0cyxR35xY

How Birds are Responding, and Sometimes not Responding, to Climate Change by Steve Hampton
https://youtu.be/xcnhXwF3weM

American Dipper and Salmon Restoration: How Barriers to Salmon Migration Change Everything for a Songbird by Dr. Christopher Tonra
https://youtu.be/2bLNOH1vzQ8